THE COMPASS OF THE PRAIRIE. 



On the prairies of the middle and 

 western states grows a plant that has 

 attracted much attention from both trav- 

 elers and scientists, by its peculiar char- 

 acteristic of showing the points of com- 

 pass by its leaves. An account of its 

 peculiarity was given to the world over 

 sixty years ago, but it was for a long 

 time discredited by scientists. 



When its existence and the remark- 

 able nature ascribed to it were proved to 

 be facts, various conjectures were offered 

 as solutions to the puzzle, all, however, 

 proving to be erroneous until the true 

 explanation was discovered by the cele- 

 brated botanist. Dr. Asa Gray. It lies 

 in the singular structure of the leaves, 

 which in most plants have a plainly indi- 

 cated upper and under surface, but in 

 the Compass-plant both sides of the leaf 

 are alike, and both being equally sensi- 

 tive to the light, in their evenly balanced 

 struggle to gain the sunshine, they as- 

 sume the position which has given to 

 the plant its name of Compass. 



The plant is a large, coarse looking 

 perennial, growing from three to twelve 

 feet in height, with a rough, hairy sur- 

 face and a resinous juice, from whence 

 comes another of its common names — 

 Rosinweed. 



A large tuft of what one might well 

 describe as enormous oak leaves arise 

 from a great, fleshy, deeply penetrating 

 root. The leaves are deeply lobed or 

 toothed, and in rich meadows sometim.es 

 attain a length of from one and a half to 

 two feet or more and a foot or more in 

 breadth. Their giant midribs, like woody 

 sticks, being often found in the refuse of 

 the hay in the horses' mangers. 



From this tuft of great leaves, which 

 stand nearly upright, presenting their 

 edges (not their tips, as some suppose), 

 directly ' north and south, rises the tall 

 stalk bearing yellow flowers, small in 

 size compared to the size of the plant and 

 showing by their structure their relation- 

 ship to the sunflower, for this plant also 

 belongs to the great Composite family. 



The botanies describe about twenty va- 

 rieties of Silphiiuns, the tallest of them 

 (Silphium laciniatum) being the subject 

 of our sketch. The name silphium is a 

 Latinized form of a Greek word sugges- 

 tive of its resinous juice. 



The poet Longfellow, in his grand 

 poem ''Evangeline," refers to this plant 

 in the following lines : 



"Look at this delicate plant that lifts its head 



from the meadow, 

 See how the leaves all point to the north as 



true as the magnet; 

 It is the Compass-plant that the finger of God 



has suspended 

 Here on its fragile stalk to direct the traveler's 



journey 

 Over the sea-like, pathless, limitless waste of 



the desert." 



This was soon after reports of the 

 plant were first given to the world, and 

 while the poet's ideas on the subject were 

 evidently somewhat hazy; but in later 

 editions of the poem the lines are revised 

 to conform more closely to the real na- 

 ture of the plant, thus: 



"Look at this vigorous plant that lifts its head 

 from the meadows, 



See how its leaves are turned to the north, as 

 true as the magnet; 



This is the Compass-flower, that the finger of 

 God has planted 



Here in the houseless wild, to direct the trav- 

 eler's journey." 



Elma Iona Locke. 



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